Psychological Testing and Multiculturalism

Application of Tests in Educational Settings 13

Career and Vocational Assessment 18

This paper reviews psychological testing as it relates to multicultural issues. In addition, psychometric issues are briefly reviewed as well as the effect of these tests on students from other than the main culture. The applications of the test in educational settings are addressed and research design and statistical analysis are also reviewed from an inferential statistical approach. Findings showed that ethnic differences are found with regard to mental test scores and controversy remains as to whether cultural test bias is the reason for these discrepancies. While tests administered to minority students may not be reliable or valid and may include test bias, they continue to be used for assessment and placement in academic settings. Inferences from empirical studies must be regarded within the context of reliability and validity of the study's design and methodology.

Discuss psychological testing as it relates to multicultural issues? Discuss the psychometric issues as it relates to validity, reliability and sta

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s (Helms, 1992). DeShon, Smith, Chan, and Schmitt (1998) reported findings of an investigation into the effects of social context on reasoning in the African American culture. Since it has been shown that African Americans score lower on cognitive ability tests compared to White Americans, racial subgroup differences were analyzed on the Wason Selection Task conditional reasoning items. The items were presented in the standard abstract form and in a social relationship form and differences in outcomes were compared. Since the items presented in a social context did not result in reducing differences between African American and White American performance, it was concluded that Helms' earlier pro-cultural bias arguments were refuted (DeShon, Smith, Chan, & Schmitt, 1998). Empirical assessment of standardized and/or psychological tests have proven some tests to lack cultural bias (Naglieri & Ronning, 2000). Naglieri and Ronning compared multiple cultures with regard to the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT). Findings showed little differences between ethnic groups samples, suggesting that the test is a fair assessment of White and minority children. McNulty, Graham, Ben-Porath, and Stein (1997) compared the validity of the MM
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Approximate Word count = 5258
Approximate Pages = 21 (250 words per page)